Traditional Western poetry is quite often associated with ascent in terms of its objective. The poem as a means to rise through the spheres towards the heavens, to acquire the transcendent vision, to live within the micro while connecting with the macro when in hand with a beautiful muse, etc. Even the myth of Orpheus somewhat involves the concept of ascension as it was necessary to raise Eurydice back up to the world of the living. Of course, Eurydice, upon the backward gaze of Orpheus, was only to fall back into the abyss of the unknown. And on occasion there have been a few poets that have dared such a nose dive back into the apocalypse of Hades in search of Eurydice. One for our times being Clayton Eshleman.

To contrast lofty exultation, in his newest publication, Anticline– a geologic term referring to a convex ‘bubble’ of bedrock where the oldest strata is cored around the center- Eshleman dare goes opposite and plunges into the base matter and energies of mankind, ultimately physical reality itself; “Descent intensifies consciousness”. What results is a poetry that evolved and is understood through the mythologic and artistic traditions that place emphasis upon balancing the simultaneity of death and creation, the integrative aspects of feminine consciousness rather than the compartmentalization found in masculine consciousness.

From a personal viewpoint, this is observed in the first poem where Eshleman advised of his need to deconstruct the mid-west, Indiana-born notion of "self" and replace it with a decentered self, one composed from poetic influences, César Vallejo being major, and a lifetime study of early human culture, most notably shamanistic traditions and Hinduism (often cited as mankind’s oldest religion). And Eshleman’s poetic style appropriately reflects. The self proclamation of lyrical “I” modes are not utilized. Instead Eshleman’s poetry has more in common with language poetry as the compositions typically result from an assembly of verbal fragments which stem from life experience and specific areas of study. One could say that the “I” has been dismembered but then reformed into the shapes and content of the poetry, “I” being a quality understood by what it is not. From ‘Inner Parliaments’:

I

is an arm with a hand.

In the Upper Paleolithic, it placed its hand on a cave wall,
spat red ochre around the hand, withdrew the hand,
leaving an I-negative on the wall.

But only about a third of the poems in Anticline involve Eshleman’s personal experiences and developments, and thankfully because otherwise I would not have read some of the best poems available that place the atrocities of the Bush administration into a non-political perspective. Continuing with the anticline metaphor, these geologic formations are often searched for by oil prospectors as the inner bubble is a rich storage arena for natural hydrocarbons (oil and gas). As both a metaphoric example and an aspect of physical reality, that is the septic holding tank for the dark energies of death and destruction. Maybe what can account for George Bush being a conduit for the massive loss of human life and dignity? Or the necessary Judas for this particular era of existence? Let us hope that Eshleman never has to write a book about volcanoes.

The rest of the collection is then devoted to visual artists that are congruous with Eshleman’s poetry. References include well known artists like Dali, Picasso, Munch, Henri Rousseau and Jackson Pollack, as well as some lesser known artists, such as Unica Zürn. But most significant is the entire middle section’s poetic analysis of one of the more impressive and equally confounding pieces of Western art, Hieronymus Bosch’s 'The Garden of Earthly Delight'.


While typically seen as a straight visual accompaniment for the biblical story of the fall from Eden, Eshleman provides a convincing argument that the painting should not be understood as a linear progression of punishment, but an example for a more ancient, cyclic understanding of creation (Birth, Life, Death). And as with the entire book, this section is filled with annotated references and allows the poems to be appreciated for their aesthetical qualities as well as for being vehicles of knowledge and further study.

Anticline was just published last month by Black Widow press and is available for purchase through their website directly as well as all online retailers and many bookstores.